Symon Hill's blog

What did Blair tell his cabinet?

It seems that if you were a member of Tony Blair's cabinet, you had to read the newspapers to find out what your own policy was. Blair was asked at the Chilcot Inquiry this morning (21 January) whether the cabinet realised in 2002 that things were progressing towards war. He replied that they must have done because, “Daily, there were stories" in the media about preparations for military action.

Active nonviolence is the way forward for students

Faced with Parliament's vote in favour of the tuition fee hike, it is vital that those of us who are campaigning against it avoid the twin temptations of giving up or resorting to violence. The Guardian today (13 December) published a letter from Ekklesia and the Student Christian Movement suggesting that active nonviolence is the best way forward.

Students are showing us the way

Since leaving full-time education, I have worked with the student movement in several ways – through backing campaigns, through being employed by a students' union, through giving freelance media training to groups such as People & Planet and the Student Christian Movement.

And I have never felt more proud to be associated with the student movement than I do this week.

Pagan prisoners and press prejudices

The Metro's news room yesterday must have echoed to the sound of the bottom of barrels being scraped, as the paper chose to put a story about the rights of Pagan prisoners on today's front page (7 December).

Unanswered questions over Pete Broadbent

The Bishop of London, Richard Chartres, has suspended ("withdrawn from public ministry" in church speak) the Bishop of Willesden, Pete Broadbent, over remarks he made on Facebook about the engagement of Kate Middleton and William Windsor. Whatever view you or I take of the monarchy, the Church of England or the opinions of Pete Broadbent, this news raises some worrying questions.

The subversive feast of Christ the King

Today is the Feast of Christ the King. After days of wall-to-wall media coverage about royalty, churches across Britain have today celebrated Jesus Christ as the true king. This is a truly subversive claim.

News you may have missed

Since yesterday morning, the media have been preoccupied with one particular family event. So in case you haven't been able to hear anything else, here is some news from yesterday which you may have missed.

Morally amazed

I'd expected my views to be attacked when I appeared on the Moral Maze on BBC Radio 4 last night. What I had not expected was the extremism of the views pitted against mine. It's a sign of just how far to the right British politics has moved – particularly on issues of welfare and employment.